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Climate Change
Pay More Attention to Climate Perils People with Disabilities Face, Experts Warn
Increased disease exposure and extreme weather events pose heightened risks for already vulnerable communities
A Lumberton firefighter holds on to two nursing home patients as a member of the Cajun Navy drives his truck during the evacuation of a nursing home due to rising flood waters in Lumberton, North Carolina, on September 15, 2018 in the wake of Hurricane Florence. Credit: Alex Edelman Getty Images
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People with physical disabilities are among the most vulnerable to climate change, yet scant attention has been paid to their unique challenges, according to a letter published in the journal Science.
"The international research community has made good progress at including vulnerable groups such as poor communities, women, indigenous people, and youth in recent international conversations about global environmental change, but disabled populations have been mostly absent from the conversation," researchers wrote.
Among other things, disabled people may have "limited access to knowledge, resources and services to effectively respond to [...]